Gay Marriage Tests State Attorneys General

Legal Tumult Complicates Role of Defending Laws From Constitutional Challenge

The legal tumult surrounding same-sex marriage is complicating one of the traditional roles of state attorneys general—defending laws from constitutional challenge.

More than half a dozen state attorneys general, all Democrats, have dropped their defense of anti-gay-marriage laws, concluding that legal precedents in the wake of the 2013 Supreme Court opinion invalidating provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act leave them no recourse. The latest was Kentucky's Jack Conway, who said this past week he wouldn't...